Once upon a Terra
by August Gal
Summary: And like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew. Meet Terra; a 16 year old teenager in bloom as she discovers her destiny. There will be old and new friends, enemies and OCs alike. ON HOLD BEING EDITED.


It was a chilly spring night and a mother was expecting child. Her water had broken so her husband quickly drove her to Republic City Hospital where she would soon give birth. A room had already been prepared for her and a doctor and nurse came by with a wheelchair rushing her to the intensive care where she would become a mother an hour or so later. The husband stood outside the room expecting the worst, but then a nurse came out bringing the good news and let him in. His wife looked exhausted but still beautiful and never had he dreamed the day would come when they would become parents. To his amazement his wife was holding their child in thick blankets, but what he hadn't expected was a tan skinned little fellow, and once he got closer he saw green eyes and the most adorable smile he had ever witnessed. Spirits he thought; he was finally a father.

"Hey Maya." He quietly said getting closer to the bed as she finally noticed him.

"Oh Han, she's so beautiful." She replied while cooing their daughter.

"She?" He asked rather innocently.

"Yes, it's a girl." She nodded. "I thought about naming her Terra, what do you think?"

He just shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm happy with whatever you pick." A smile shone across her face.

"Then it's settled."

He reached for her and caressed their daughters face with outmost delicacy. "Hey there Terra." The baby looked up in delight and fussed in response.

**5 years later.**

They had quickly learned that their daughter was a Waterbender. To be sure, they weren't really certain what to expect, they had been happy with a non-bender too but fate held otherwise. Her mother was a Waterbender and her father an Earthbender so it could've been either. She had her mother's looks that was for sure but she shared her father's eyes, something he always bragged about at work. He was a Metalbending cop and also the youngest parent out of the bunch. He had only been twenty and Maya nineteen when their daughter had come into this world. But they were happy none the less.

A year later Terra was rolled into a school for Waterbenders to master their art and it was going rather well. It was a bit different compared to the public schools were non-benders as well as benders were gathered. But they thought she would need the additional education and then one day turn into an excellent healer or whatever she chose to be.

Her mother had become a healer and nurse and was working at the same hospital she had given birth to so everyone knew her rather well.

At the school Master Serra was holding her class and she was well-known since she was the previous Avatars daughter having learned from the best, it was only logical that they chosen her.

**Years went by** and Terra was 12 and a young woman in bloom. She had had finally mastered Waterbending and had begun intensive courses for healers. During her time in school she had always been treated different, mostly because of her heritage; she was a half-breed and it could be told from her emerald green eyes. She had been bullied a lot but never physically. Her parents had taught her that hitting another person from verbal abuse would never yield any winnings whatsoever so she had learned to stay calm and collected. Once healing-practices had started it was all different. Students were too busy to learn from their teachers so it left little talk during lessons.

One day, daughter and mother had gone for a shopping trip and Terra kept nonchalantly walking and telling about her progress paying little attention to her surroundings and once they were at a crossing she had kept going until she heard a loud honk and spotted the Satomobile, but it was too late and she braced herself for impact.

It was all over she thought her life flashing by in images and she wished she had lived a little longer. Once she opened her eyes she saw a huge wall covering her and she looked around trying to figure out where it had come from. She found her mother on her knees amazement filling her eyes as she just stared at her daughter. Bypassers had seen and heard the incident clearly, heading towards her asking if she was okay, she just nodded still not understanding what had happened. She thought someone must have saved her life and looked around but no one came through the crowd. Her mother grabbed her by the wrist and quickly pulled her out before any more questions would appear and they headed back to their apartment.

"Terra, did you just Earth-bend?" Her mother asked with a rather serious tone as she eyed her daughter who felt more confused than guilty.

"Mom, I'm pretty sure I can't Earthbend or else I would've known." Walking around her daughter as if she was some foreign object she studied her carefully trying to find any hint on what had just happened. No one had been close enough to create that wall and certainly the driver couldn't have created one in time, if he was an Earthbender at all.

Her mother had told her to stay in her room and so she did trying to figure out what she'd been scolded for this time. Maya made a call to her husband asking him to come home as quickly as he could, telling him she had rather urgent news to discuss over dinner.

Terra had begun going over one of her books about Tai Chi when her mother walked into her room telling her to prepare the table as dinner would be served in a few minutes.

The dining area was rather large and could hold up to ten people had they chosen for a bigger table, but since they rarely had guests apart from relatives every now and then they had chosen to get a table for five made out of massive oak. She sat down and waited for her mother to serve dinner.

Moments later rustling could be heard from the hall and her father walked in greeting his wife and then giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead asking about her day. He left his coat at one of the many hooks close by the front door and took a seat bringing his suitcase upfront picking up a few documents before putting everything aside. Maya came in holding a large pot; they were having five-flavored soup, one of Terra's favorites and began serving her daughter then her husband, then finally settling for herself. Han shared his wonderful day at work having been appraised by Chief Bolin about his success in busting several of the Triads secret hideouts and that he might get his own special taskforce someday as he had secretly been working with others having several infiltrators in Triad territory.

"So what's the good news then?" He asked rather interested as he eyed both women with a spark in his eyes.

"Wait, its bad news isn't it?" His face going into full concern now as he eyed his wife rather deeply. "You're not pregnant are you?"

Both women found each other's eyes as they looked back at father and husband as if he'd gone crazy. "No Han, it's something different, something…"

He gave his daughter a thoughtful look before looking back at his wife. "Is something wrong with Terra?"

Maya just shook her head in response. "Honey I think Terra can Earthbend."

He dropped his spoon making a mess over the table before looking back to his wife again. "Maya I think we would've all known if our daughter could Earthbend right sweetie?"

Terra looked up before carefully swallowing the content in her mouth, thinking how to answer her father. He started to wipe off the mess before catching her innocent gaze. "Dad, I'm pretty sure no one can bend more than one element unless they're the Avatar, and no one has seen him or her ever since Avatar Korra passed away."

Both parents gave her a rather confused look and she felt like she'd done something bad again. "What?" she asked rather sheepishly as she kept spooning mouthfuls not having caught on to what they had found so fascinating about her.

Han sighed before carefully decided to tell his daughter about one of the many things about things she was still learning. "Sweetie, you see when you were born; Avatar Korra had just left our world so there could be a chance that you-" Terra cut him off.

"Dad I'm a Waterbender remember? Shouldn't I have learned Earthbending first if I was the Avatar?" She made a good point, not to mention she had rather little resemblance to an Earthbender. Maybe it was because she was mixed-blood, something which was still uncommon in this day of age but considering she had only used Waterbending up until now it still proved to be a difficult question to answer not to mention you could not tell the person apart unless he or she bended another element.

A baby-boom had also occurred after so many years of peace and prosper, so the White Lotus had had a rather handful of trying to locate the next Avatar. Some had stayed behind for sake of the last Airbenders but the rest had setup an encampment near Ba Sing Se in hope of finding the next one. The fact that their daughter could be the Avatar still left questions unanswered.

The next day Maya had called Master Serra over in hope of getting some questions cleared up. The woman made various points about her being an excellent student and Waterbender but other than that she hadn't noticed anything about the girl. Apart from having an affinity to water and having somewhat difficulties getting along with others there had been no hints of her being special.

"See mom? Even Master Serra can tell that I'm just your average Water Tribe girl." She grimaced before heading to the kitchen for some more cookies. The women kept chitchatting about several topics before Serra had decided to leave as she had other things to attend to. She thanked for the tea and they both expressed their gratitude for having the honor of serving the former Avatars daughter while she chuckled at their response before leaving.

"Mom I told you, it must've been someone else, besides if I was the Avatar shouldn't I be able to bend the other elements?" A tear had escaped her eye and she hugged her daughter in response.

"Look sweetie, I was just so surprised and afraid that I had almost lost you. Promise me you'll be more careful from now on?" She just nodded back into her shoulder

"I promise mom."

**Years went by again **and Terra had turned 16, her parents had thought that she should try one of the schools appointed for non-bender. And it turns out they had picked the city's most famous one; Republic City High School or RCH for short.

Not having any real friends they had been worried that she'd end up lonely during her teenage years which is why the made the move to a bigger school this time with more variety. Being the new girl and all, she quickly became the gossip around school. And most of the boys in her class had gotten an eyeful at the freshman but considering all the dislike she had gotten up until now it was something she had never thought about and found it somewhat confusing for being the center of attention rather than being the one pushed against a corner.

There were other Water Tribe in the room, but she still stood out, probably because of her eyes again she thought.

She felt a pat against her left shoulder and she turned around only to find a Water Tribe boy but there was something odd about his appearance.

"Hey you're Terra right? Names Kira, nice to meet ya." They shook hands before he sat down next to her. "Don't worry about the guys; they act like this whenever a new girl appears, so don't bother."

This brought a relief to Terra as she sighed in response. "Glad to hear that. I feared this was going to end up like in elementary school." She muttered and made a gesture with her hands before leaning on them.

"Trust me; I know how hard it is to be different." He said rather quietly before glancing around the room seeing how the whole class had redirected their gaze towards both of them. Silence was creeping around class until the door opened and an old man walked in. He stood by the blackboard with a robust posture as he eyed the class when he spotted Terra.

"Good morning everyone, and as you all know; my name is Noah, but you shall address me as Master Noah or Mr. Noah. And I see that you have already been acquainted with our new student." He made a gesture with his hand towards her and everyone eyed Terra once more.

"Well, why don't you introduce yourself young lady?" Terra carefully stood up feeling embarrassment creeping up towards her cheeks.

"Uh hi, my name's Terra I'm 16 and I'm a master Waterbender and healer." She said rather awkwardly before taking a seat.

"Well I hope everyone will treat Miss Terra with dignity as you have been to everyone else." He said as his eyes meet with Kira's. "And I hope she will do the same." He continued before taking a seat.

Today's first class was history. One of her favorite subjects and she had been briefed with the upcoming ones since she had gotten a schedule beforehand. She had always loved the stories about how Avatar Korra and her friends had saved Republic City, the Water Tribes and the world itself. She was a somewhat role model always being headstrong and self-sacrificing for bringing balance and peace to the world. One day she wished to become just as reputable, well if only somewhat she thought to herself as their teacher went on about the 100 Year War and what it had taught us since then.

The bell rang and their teacher wrapped up about today's lesson and gave them an assignment to pick their favorite part of history spanning the last 300 years and make an essay what they found the most interesting and why it had made such an impact on our world.

She had five minutes until next class which was Mathematics so she quickly made it to the lockers trying to locate her own before she bumped into a person and fell on her back.

"Hey watch it were you're going girl!" She looked up to find a rather tall and slim boy who looked down at her like if she was some sort of animal.

"Sorry…" she mumbled before getting up and walking away. She finally found it near the end of a hall it read 777 just like on her note she had gotten earlier this morning and tried the pin and it unlocked with ease. She stuffed her locker with her books leaving only her math-book, notepad and pen case in her backpack before leaving for class. She never been good at math only handling the basics calculations before the more difficult ones felt like gibberish and never saw the point of having to learning anything above her current knowledge.

Her math-teacher explained that her name was Yen and she would be replacing Mr. Yang as he had been retired last year. She had a rather chilling voice one that would probably scare a mere child from ever wanting to cause trouble again. The class went by without any issues to her disbelief and next up was Biology.

She met up with Kira again whom she shared a desk with during the class as they had been divided into two and two for this project which also meant that they would have the same seating for the rest of the year. During class Kira had been observing her several times with curiosity but she never caught on as she had learned to distance herself after so many years of harassment.

The ball rang and he asked her if she'd like to join him for lunch and she thankfully nodded following him to the school's cafeteria. They both picked noodles but while she had picked ones made from seaweed, he had chosen the ones called flameos made from Fire Nation herbs and whatnot; in other words it was rather spicy, too spicy for her tastes and they took a seat.

Feeling the silence taking over she tried to make some small-talk. "Never thought you'd pick flameos over seaweed." She made a gesture with the chopsticks towards his bowl as she grabbed another mouthful.

"Well, we Firebenders do like spicy food after all." He commented as he continued slurping his noodles. She thought she had heard him wrong and studied him carefully before daring to ask.

"Did you say Firebender? Aren't you Water Tribe?" She asked rather questioning observing him once more. His brows raised and felt a little taken back her statement but then figured as she was the new girl, she couldn't have known.

"You see I'm actually Fire Nation, well half-Fire Nation and half-Water Tribe but I inherited the will of fire from my father."

Suddenly she felt a pang of joy fill her body as she finally realized that she wasn't alone in this world. She knew there were others like her but she had never hoped to find one so soon.

"So you're half-blood like me then!" she grinned in reply.

"You see I'm half-Water Tribe as well as half-Earth Kingdom but I took on the affinity of water from my mom." He just nodded and pointed to his eyes.

"You can tell just by looking at the eyes you know." And it was then she had noted his golden orbs which really stood out now. They were sitting near a large window and the sun really shone through which reflected his eyes making them stand out more than usual she thought. No wonder she hadn't noticed them earlier. He noticed her sense of joy as she kept smiling while eating her lunch.

"Let me guess, you had trouble when you were younger huh, being treated differently and such?"

"Oh my Spirits, how did you know?" She eyed him with confused look.

"Let's just say I've had my fair share in the past." He clarified then emptied the remaining content of the bowl in mere seconds. They kept chatting and had found out that they had a lot in common and even lived nearby each other, and quickly bonded not that they had really noticed but it was fairly certain to the onlooker.

It even turned out that they had the same schedule apart from gymnastics which he had switched for Firebending practice instead. Terra was fairly toned having been taught Tai Chi and Hung Garwhen she was younger and thought about continuing with her physical exercises. Her parents had believed that having her taught the arts from her respective cultures would increase her self-esteem not to mention her self-defense would she ever need it. It had certainly helped on the former but the latter had never been used since she looked down on psychical violence not really seeing the point of solving problems with fists when words would come out stronger. She was a rational thinker, something she took pride in always thinking before acting which had helped her many times during her years of being bullied. She still liked martial-arts but it was more like a mental booster and kept her at bay once the endorphins kicked in. Whenever she felt down she would use either as an excuse to elude her mind of her current ordeal and it had always helped.

Sex-ed was next which was something she probably never would understand. She had had the talk with her mom when she was nine about everything there was to know and to her amazement she had grasped it rather well for being such young, something even her mother felt relieved in hoping she would never have to fear of her daughter ending up a teenage-mom.

She never understood this class believing everyone had had the talk but brushed it aside trying to just get by as they were shown a rather logical mover were the announcer explained the wonders about flowers and bees and the risks should one consider to ignore them. A lot of the boys were making comments and she caught Kira staring at her rather embarrassed as the mover went on. After the mover had ended they were excused from class and with that she had 20 minutes before her last period.

She went to her locker and grabbed her gym bag before finding her way towards the gym. It was rather large to her surprise and divided into several smaller buildings sporting a swimming hall, another which sported several equipment's being used for weight-lifting no doubt she thought, then she came to a room that looked like a smaller copy of the Pro-Bending area she had caught a few times on the Varrevision and then she arrived at her last stop; the open gym.

She found the girls locker-room and quickly changed into her workout clothes being the only one there she had decided for a warm-up and started memorizing the moves as she went about only being interrupted when she heard applause in the background she stopped and observed her surroundings when she finally spotted a rather tall and muscular man in standing in the distance. As he got closer she spotted well-trimmed beard and the cap that said coach, assuming he was what his cap stated she made a respectful bow before he followed.

"I see you favor the way of the Tiger."He quickly appraised her while inspecting her further. "Not that often you see Water Tribe learning the ways of Hung Gar."

She crossed her arms while giving him a doubtful look. "Well I am half-Earth Kingdom so I don't see any harm in doing that." She retorted rather swiftly while continuing with the warm-up.

"You know, had you been an Earthbender you would've probably made an excellent Pro-Bender unless you aren't one of course?"

She continued on before finally feeling like it was enough thinking how to answer him while doing light-stretches. "Sorry, Waterbender I'm afraid."

He got closer and introduced himself as Coach Lee and she did the same and shook his hand. Seconds later the hall was being filled by students who were probably here for the same reason as her. Coach Lee then shouted out each name while jotting them down on a notepad checking for any absent ones before continuing class. Everyone had gathered to his surprise and he began explaining the meaning of this class and what their goal was and how they intended to reach them.

Each student was meant to pick an objective; be it running 100m in less than 8 seconds, lifting weights 3 times their own weight or deepen their studies in martial-arts. Terra has picked the latter. Seeing as she wasn't that interested into weights. Sure she was already strong, stronger than the average girl her age but she had never found any interested in it whatsoever and preferred to use willpower over brute force. She had learned to use the strength of her opponent at her advantage which again reflected her personality somewhat as she preferred to examine her foes before striking back. She had learned to chi-block as well from an early age as water was so scarce in the city it had almost become second nature to her so she rarely relied on her own element.

She would need a sparring partner for this and to her surprise a boy showed up in front of her asking if he could join up. She nodded and he introduced himself as Gan and told her was an Earthbender, and she followed up. Since both were accustomed to Hung Garit was rather easy to share blows, but what she was lacking in Hung Garshe repelled with chi-blocking. She had only managed to chi-block his right leg but he still moved with ease as if it didn't bother him. No doubt was he a formidable opponent she thought, as she was getting tired of his constant blocking not being able to land a single strike except for the one to his leg, a slipup she thought as he seemed to have finally regained his posture once more.

Having finally given up gesturing with her hands they bowed to each other and headed the group of students, it was less than five minutes left till class ended so Coach dismissed the group and told them to think over their goals over the week as next time would be Fireday. Seeing as it still was Moonday she had sufficient time figuring out if this was the right approach for her and with that she left the showers.

There was one thing that had come to her mind and it was that she was the only Water Tribe girl amongst the group of girls and had been given a rather handful of glares as she had undressed. Most were either Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom wanting to improve on their skills while Water Tribe women were off learn about healing seeing as it had become the inferior art in this day of age. Having gone under the showerhead, the hot water soothed her aching muscles and cleansed her body as she thought about the future. To everyone's surprise she bended away all water from her body and walked towards the lockers to get changed. Her attire was a mix of blues and whites and also a necklace that held the insignias of her heritage and she made a made a ponytail out of her short hair while leaving the front to conceal her face. She had never liked long hair and had asked her mother for permission to keep it short once it had passed her neck when she was younger and had kept it like that ever since.

Once she was outside the gym she spotted Kira and asked if he wanted to walk home with her and he gladly nodded in reply. They had kept the walk rather quiet enjoying the scenery as they came to a halt where they parted ways. It was the same crossing Terra had almost ended her life with had things turned out differently so she impatiently observed the roads before crossing over. The walk to school was only a few minutes away so it wasn't enough for her to get lost as she had learned her ways somewhat in the immense metropolis she called home.

She was home at 15.17 she noted on the giant clock in the hall as she kicked off her shoes and headed to her room dropping her backpack near the her door and falling down unto her bed. It would be a little two hours before her mom got home, so she pondered on what she could do meanwhile.

The teen decided to have a look at the Varrevision and headed towards the living room. She was flipping through the few channels that existed until she found one that was showing replays of last week's Pro-Bending games and eagerly watched as she saw the Pro-Benders move about. Oh how she wished she could play a game, but she lacked a team and not to mention experience to other benders and left the idea at that, that's right; an impossible fantasy. Her parents wouldn't be keen on her joining a team either as her mother had wanted her to ponder on more important things like becoming a healer or something meaningful. Her dad however was glad she chose either as long as she was happy.

Being daddy's little girl she thought was probably never going to fade away even when she became a legal adult seeing as he always appraised her for every little thing she did and it hadn't declined ever since he discovered that she could bend. Truth to be told, he had wished for her to be an Earthbender but one can only hope for so many things.

She had grabbed some snacks from the kitchen and started munching on some nuts later sipping on some ice tea speculating what her upcoming school days would be like. So she went to grab the schedule from her backpack. Calligraphy then handcrafting, wood crafting and or sewing was on the list marked with an *, which meant she could choose either of the three, and had decided on handcrafting.

Surely she could make a handful of trinkets on her spare time while adding points to her list of accomplishments. She already sported several bracelets which noted on her heritage but also had Earth Kingdom ones on her left wrist which she also took pride in.

Most had either been made by her mom or bought in shops which she had picked out herself. Even though she was mixed-blood she still took pride in both cultures but actually favored the Earth Kingdom more somewhat but it was something she never told anyone not even her own parents for spirits crying out loud. She had several hair accessories that were green like her trusty bandana and hair ties but had stopped wearing the former once she had become more self-conscious about her appearance. She never wore any makeup except for some eyeliner every now and then but compared to other girls her age, she thought she looked decent enough. Her mom had told her about how makeup could ruin your skin so she had made the smart decision to wear as little if any.

"Terra? Terra sweetie are you alright?" She awoke to the sound of her mother, and noted she must've drifted off without noticing.

"Hey mom, sorry I think I must've dozed off." She said rather embarrassingly as she rubbed her eyes and greeted her mother with a hug.

"How was your first day at school?" She asked with curiosity as she sat down with her daughter who was having grinning rather noticeably.

"It was great, and I even made a friend on my first day." She replied as she rested back her head against her hands with a content grin on her face. It was the smirk of success and it was something her mother had caught on early in her lifetime. She made a nod in response and headed towards Lau's and her bedroom to get changed.

Her mother was now wearing a rather simple Water Tribe styled dress that looked modern but still had that homey feeling that showed her cultural background and joined her daughter on the couch. She picked up the newspaper from the coffee table no doubt her husband had probably been reading before heading to work seeing as he left much later but always came home in time for dinner.

Later on Maya went off to warm up leftovers from yesterday's dinner and asked if Terra could assist her since she did very little around the apartment apart from cleaning her room to keep things tidy. Once she had completed her share of the work she took her usual seat and awaited her parents to join her. Her father came by as usual and dotted his daughter which she kept commenting about telling him she was too old but he just shrugged of the accusation telling her she would always be his little angel. And little did he know…

**So tell me guys what you think? I'm thinking around 5k words per chapter trying to keep it as interesting as possible while sticking to the "main plot". Updates will be rather spontaneous as I brainstorm for new ideas but I think most of you can tell were this is headed. I intend on keeping this one going as long as LoK is still active seeing as I might use any future material and whatnot. There will be lots of hints before the "upbringing" and I'm sure many of you will notice as the story unfolds.**


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